New vinyl flooring? Say no to detergents!

Finally, thank you Shawna for your question!  Your vinyl installer was right.  Many of the vinyl floorings used today are damaged by strong detergents as well as other cleaners.  Do not use them on your floors.  Just use straight warm water and rinse often.

The reason for no detergent is this, it eventually will remove the protective coating on the vinyl exposing the subsurface to dirt, stains and grit.  You’ll want the coating to last for years so, plain water only.  If you want to disinfect or remove some stain once in a while than typically you can use a little vinegar in your water, but not straight vinegar!  I mix a couple of tablespoons in a pint spray bottle with the balance filled with warm water.  Spray, then rinse with the mop.  Works great!  Thank you for your question!

SparkChaser4

H&W Carpets review

It’s been almost a year since I hired H&W Carpets to supply and install the flooring in our newly purchased 1974 ranch home. I had to wait this long to write this review for a reason. It was to give them enough time to follow-up on the job (which they didn’t) and time for my temper to cool! Their address is given as: 19505 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy, Aloha, Oregon.

In the beginning everything went as expected, it was near job completion that he (our sales rep) showed us “attitude” in a comment he made to us about when the payment in full was due! Snarky indeed! We have also found poor quality workmanship in the way they installed the flooring. One section of the vinyl was installed leaving what could best be described as a bubble in the flooring upon completion. A bubble approximately 16 inches in diameter!

In another part of the house, the carpet was cut to reinstall the floor heat register to the heat ducting. Only problem is, in addition to the rectangular cut-out, they also made a second cut from one end of the cut-out and extended it out into the flooring where they proceeded to make a large letter “e” cut into the carpet.

My 45+ year construction background tells me that the 4-inch large “e” cut in the carpet field was the installer trying to find the register opening in the floor in the beginning. He then extended it over to cut the rectangular shaped hole afterwards. The fact that he made this excessively large cut without repairing the damage shows poor work ethics as well as a bit of dishonesty in failing to bring it to the attention of either his boss or myself, the buyer.

In both cases what with the vinyl “bubble” and the sliced-up carpet, a proper installer taking pride in his work would have ripped out the damaged flooring and replaced it with new at his own expense if need be, instead of trying to hide his work and hope the buyer doesn’t notice his shoddy workmanship. With numerous flooring suppliers around, I cannot in good faith recommend H&W Carpets, Inc. to anyone. Nor would I even allow them into my house again to clean my floor much less buy and install a new one. My rating? Is there such thing as a Negative Star Rating?

Too bad, as I prefer doing business with local mom and pop shops and tradespeople. Just not this one I guess!

SparkChaser4

What I’ve been up to . . .

Now that my better-half and I have been in this “new” home of ours for nine months now, our efforts are finally beginning to show around the homestead. Particularly the shrubs and plants found in our yard! Here’s a dozen to sample.

And this doesn’t even include the four varieties of plum trees and the taller fauna! I hope like me, you’re all staying busy and enjoying the beautiful weather we’re having now!

God bless.

SparkChaser4

Scam Alert! Phone # 315-413-8012

At least that is the number he gave to me today. It shows as a Verizon land-line out of Syracuse, New York. Possibly a Skype/Voip call. Claimed to be “Officer Mark Johnson” with the “Legal Universe Notification Department”, yeah right, with a very difficult to understand Indian accent! There is more information located here and here. What ever you do, don’t give them anything!! They say they have your account numbers and your Social Security number, etc.. and if this were true they would have already emptied your accounts.

Put them on the defensive, ask them questions. Things like, “Okay then, what is my Social Security number?” and so on. Believe me, he will hang up immediately and he might even tell you not to call ‘this’ number again!  By the way, is it possible to make collect calls against his number? Hmmm . . .  I wonder?  Until the next time, be careful and God Bless!

SparkChaser4

A WordPress glitch?

For the last couple of days, my WordPress Blog all but disappeared. Not only were all my tags gone, but a number of “pages” too. As for my writings, all but one day plus the one I was working on were gone. Now today, I’m a happy camper once again as all of it is back! What happened? I’ve no idea although I’m now considering a way to back it up, possibly offline or would it be easier to just let it all “blow in the wind” and shut it down if it were to happen permanently next time?

As for backing up a WordPress blog, has anyone a “simple” suggestion for this lay-person? Please leave me a comment if you do. Thanks to all and God Bless.

SparkChaser4

Spring cleaning ?

Decided it was time to get rid of some things around the ol’ household. We’ve been in our new place (built in ’74 I believe) for six months now and the missus is still antsey about not being able to park her car in the garage. Little does she know that I’m considering taking over the whole garage for my “new” workshop anyway!

Meanwhile, out goes the Electric typewriter, four Handspring Visor Neos with USB cradles and a complete Windows Me computer system that I changed over to run on a Linux Operating System. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get this house in order before it’s time to meet my maker. Well, back to work!

SparkChaser4

‘Smart Meters’ Prove to Be a Dumb Idea

As an electrician, I stated that a plain electric meter containing a transmitter wasn’t a good idea! Weren’t there enough signals going through the air already without adding another one from every wired home and business around?  Appears I was right, and The Blaze agrees with this consensus. Find their article here.

Now join the crowd and demand their immediate removal and return to the plain meters. This would also give the added benefit of rehiring Meter-readers back on and don’t we need all the jobs we can produce in these times?

SparkChaser4

How hot’s the water?

Wanda asked me, “How do I know what temperature the water-heater is set at, when all it says on the thermostat is “A”, “B” or “C”?

My Answer:  Wanda, my gas water-heater thermostat’s settings are identified in the same way.  There are also others identified only with “Low”, “Med” or “High” instead of an actual temperature (in degrees) setting. So how do you tell?  Pick the faucet or bathing facility that is the farthest from the water-heater in your home and turn it on to the “full hot only” position.  If you don’t know which faucet this is then turn on the one centrally located in your home.  Next, let the water run until it won’t get any hotter to your touch, then hold the end of a thermometer in the water’s flow until the temperature won’t rise any longer. 

That is your water temperature setting or at least close enough to allow you to adjust the temperature to the proper 120-125 degrees in your home.  As to the thermometer, you can use a candy or even a meat thermometer as they will readily read in the temperature range necessary to make your adjustments.  By the way, most mercury “wall thermometers” aren’t very accurate at the higher temps so skip using them.  Adjust your thermostat(s) ever so slightly over a period of days until your water temperature is where you want it to be.  Why days?  Because unless you go through large quantities of hot water regularly, it will take an extended period for the water-heater to readjust to the new setting.

As a last hint, once you have the thermostat set to the temperature you’re happy with, make a small mark on the thermostat dial next to the arrow with a bright-colored or white latex paint, fingernail polish or the like.  Then you will always know at a glance what the temperature on your water-heater is set to.  Hope this answers your question. And thanks.

SparkChaser4

I’ve been slow posting for a good reason.

I’ve been slow posting due to a change in residence for my missus and I.  We started looking for a new home one and a half years ago and after six months of looking, we put an offer on a “short sale” house with the promise “it will only take 45 to 90 days to close”.  Well here we are, closing finally a year later! 

We have already closed, but are in the middle of moving-in and at the same time doing necessary repairs to make the house livable.  We will be in by the end of this month (September) so hopefully things will get a little more back to normal.  Meantime I apologize for the long stretches between postings and hope you will bear with me in the interim.  Thanks to you all.

Sparkchaser4

Don’t scour your bathtub!

Or to be more accurate, don’t use scouring powder in your bathtub and/or shower.  I’m responding to a question on how to get out dirt or soap stains in a steel bathtub.  Evidently it has got worse over the years and she wanted to know how to remove them once and for all.  Well, as “for all” the only sure way is to remove the offending tub or shower!  Problem cured!

Now joking aside, most people would try to use scouring powders such as “Ajax”, “Comet” or a similar brand first thing.  Let me be the first to tell you, don’t!  Once you initially use a scouring powder in your fiberglass or enameled steel tub or shower, it will be clean and shiny . . . for a while.  But you are literally “scratching” or “etching” the sealed surface with these abrasive cleansers.  This now rougher surface allows future dirt, grime and soap film to more easily adhere to the bathtub or shower surface.  Whereas the tub/shower might be difficult to clean now, any future cleaning will be even more difficult than what it was before!  So stay away from scouring powders!

Well then, what can you use to clean them?  I like baking soda with water followed by a rubbing alcohol and water mix spray on the walls after each shower.  Some like cleaning with bleach diluted with water.  Others like ammonia with water, just remember not to mix the two!  Google fiberglass or enameled steel cleaners and you will get a number of methods that you can try.

As a last note, I understand that Comet and other companies have come out with a non-abrasive version of their products, claiming they won’t scratch fiberglass and the like.  Not having tried these products I can’t verify their statements.  I have used products to “seal” and thereby smooth the fiberglass surface after a thorough cleaning and they do work quite well though.  Most are like and apply the same way as your auto paste wax.  Wipe or rub it in, allow to dry to a haze, than buff it off.  For best protection I like the paste wax, but an aerosol spray version is also available.  The protection is noticeable because the water beads and runs off similar to your car.  It will last from six months to a year depending on the number of people using the shower and so on. 

Oh, and you people with tiled tubs surrounds, don’t forget to reseal your grout annually also.  Just be sure to clean the area first and keep the silicone sealer on the grout and not on the tile.  Hint: If you don’t clean the surround before sealing it, you will be sealing in the dirt! Making it impossible to remove the dirt afterward.

SparkChaser4